Process for separating and collecting particles of one liquid suspended in another liquid.



- F. G. GOTTRELL. v PROCESS FOR SEPARATING AND COLLECTING PARTICLES 011 ONE LIQUID SUSPENDED IN ANOTHER LIQUID. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 12, 1909.

Patented Mar.21, 1911.

all

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

rannnmex eannnna'corranrr,

OF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS; PETROLEUM RECTIFYING- COMPANY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALI- FOBNIA, A CORPORATION- CALIFORNIA. f 7

rnocnss ron saranarme Ann COLLECTING ranir'rorns or m ANOTHER LIQUID.

To all whom it may V Be it known that .I,:.Fminnmcx GARDNER CO'ITRELL, a citizen'of the United States, residing at Berkeley, in the county of Alameda and Stateof California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes for Se arating and Collecting Particleslof One. iquid Sus ended in Another Liquid, of which the'fo owing isaspecification. e r

My invention relates to the art of'zseparating mechanical mixtures of liquids, such,

for example, as oil and water and it com.

sists in certain improvements, hereinafter fully described, in the methods and processes of such separation. 7 For the purposes ofthe present description, it will be convenient to roughly .dis-

tinguish between two types of the internal phase,

too fine'to be'readily so perceived, and which may termed microscopic. In" the case 7 v mixtures, namely, those in whichthe drops, forming 'suspended'in the body of liquidfforming the external phase, are

large enoughto be readil seen as such by may be termed the naked eye,"and whic macroscopic; and those in which they are of'mac 'oscopic suspensions where the ex-' ternal base is a liquid of low viscosi is considerable,.the"separation ofthe two liquids'will usually take placereadily of itself, even in large containers; butwhen the.

viscosity is high or the difference in density slight, or the particles very small,- the process of settling' is often a very slow one; and it is partit 'arly to such cases that-my present improvements are directed. .It is awell times that of either constituent.

known fact that the viscosity of a mechanical mixture-of two liquids may many separation of small quantities of water from lubricating oil in condensed have been devised; but in steam engines,

. these-onetrouble invariably to be contended with the tendency of the-filter, if fine enough to retain the smaller particles, to

become clogged by the emulsion formed in its meshes. .Inall such filter processes thus farjfqaroposed, the filtration has been commenced. with .the filter, say, for example, a.

- fabric,

thorough initial wetting tum with a liquid which phase, thus establishing I ml for the draining off of this internal.

'flow of the mixture and the di erence in density of the two liquids Specification of Letter'slPatent. 'Patented Mar, 21, 1911, Application filed October 12, 1909. Serial no. 522,343.

oughlyzsaturated with this liquid, the otherz,

ONE LIQUID SUSPENDED will, necessarily, have to collect in globules:

or irregular droplets, without wetting the and inthis condition tends to either obstruct the pores of the filter or be carried onward through them.

One of the fundamental operating ei f ditions of my present improvement is the of the filter sepv is readily miscible with the liquid forming the internal phase of the mixture to be treated, in practice the same liquid as composes said internal a continuous'chanphase liquid through this wetted septum, ina direction usually to base arated. This procedure, in itself, often s ces to rapidly remove allthe suspended liquid when this is 'in' the form of drops as large or larger ,thanthe (pores of the filter; but in case the suspende droplets are ofmicroscopic dimenslons, as'lsoften the case in emulsions, and especlally when the compos1t1on of either of the'liquids is such as to occasion less rigid fil'n'r the formation of a more or about the drops,.'as, for example, when oil containing dissolved resins is emulsified with water, then it often becomes expedient to combine certain electrical features infthe treatment. As the basic phenomena from which these electric features have been developed have been fully described in an afiipplication for patent, Serial No. 497,167,

lateral. to the general ed May 20, 1909, by me jointly with James ,9

Buckner Speed, it will be sufficient for the purposes of this application to point out their specialfifunction in connection with and in relation to the present case. When dealing .w-ith a-liquid..-las external phase,

which is'practically a' non conductorI"'of electricity, the very minute suspended drop lets of the internal phase may be caused to coalesce .into larger masses easily retained 7 by the wettedfilter septum, by bringing the mixture for a time between and-in contact withieelcctrodes forming the terminals of a high voltage electric circuit, preferably an alternating current circuit. This treatment and its-combination with the filtering iniprovcment is still more effective if the two are directly combined by making the filter-' ing septum apart of the electrode itself.

In cases where the internal phase is a very much better electric conductor than the external phase, it is also advantageous to have the essentially active surfaces of the electrodes Wholly and rather deeply submer ed in the liquid undergoingtrcatment, so t at there will beno tendency for the partially agglomerated internal phase liquid, to collect on such surfaces and cause short circuiting' of the electrodes.

In order to make the ractice of my improvements clear, the to owing description enlarged, showing the filtering septum.

The oil, ca rrying the suspended water enters through the pipe 1, and is delivered into the sheet iron cylmder 2, from which it flows downwardinto the double-walled metallic-screen cone 3,-between the two screen layers ofwhich is held a bag of cotton cloth 4. This cloth;'before the contact of the oil therewith is to be thoroughly wetted with water. The iron cylinder 2, screen-cone 3 and cotton bag 4 constitute one of the electrodes, and are connected to the high potential wire of the, step up transformer 5, as shown. These parts are supported and otherwise entirely insulated .by the insu-- lators 6. The oil filters throughthe bag 4 into the space 7 between the cone 3 and a similar concentric, but larger, double-walled wire-screen cone 8, confining between its walls a previously .water-wetted cotton bag 9 which cone and bag taken together form the other electrode, being connected tothe other high-potential terminal of the high potential transformer 5, .throu htheir sup port on theouter 'shell 10. an the ground as shown. As the mixture of'liquid's' passes through the cloth, the two electrode cones and the space between them, the fine particles' of water are'caused'bythe electric field to'coalesce -with each other and with the water wetting the cloth, and flow down through the cloth as a cha'nnelto-the bottom of the conesand sink to 'the' bottomiof the shell 10 in large masses which readily e oa-' f l'esce of themselves thus .caaasingja sharp jseparation of the two liquids into distinctlayers in the bottom of the shell 10 whence they'may be separately. withdrawn in anyv convenient manner, as, for instance, automatically by means of the pipe 13' and'the trap vessel 14. The two liquids flow through the pipe 13 into the trap vessel 14 the heavier collecting at the bottom of said vesscl and overflowing throu 'h and from the pipe 12, while the lighter fills the upper portion of the vessel 14 and overflows through the pipe 11. The proper heights of the liquid columns in the shell 10, the trap vessel 7 14 and the pipe 12 will, of course, depend upon the relative vdensities of the three liquids thus in balance.

Having thus described my invention,wha t I claim as new and desire to secure-by-Lett'ersPatent is 1. The improvement in the art of separating and collecting particles of one liquid suspended in another liquid consisting in causing themixture to be treated to pass through a pervious septum initially wetted with a liquid readily miscible with the liquid forming the suspended drops ofthe mixture, said septum forming part of a system of electrodes connected to a source of electricity of sufficient voltage to produce coalescence of the suspended drops and cause a separation of the two liquids whereby the separated and coalesced drops will drain through the wetted se tum to its edge; and collecting said draine li uid in masses essentially free from the ot er constituent of the original mixture.

2. The improvement in the art of sepa-. ratingand collecting particles of one liquid suspended in another liquid consisting in causing the mixture to be treated-to pass through a pervious septum initially wetted' with aliquid readily miscible with the liquid forming the suspended drops of the mixture 7 said se tum forming part of'a system oi electi o es connected to a source of alternating current of electricity of suflicient voltv age to produce coalescence of the su' ended drops and cause a separation oft e two liquids, whereby the separated and coalesced drops will drain throqgh the .wetted septum to its edge; and co ecting said drained liquid inmasses essentiall free'f-romthe "other constituent of the originalmixture.

3. The. improvement in the art of separating andcollecting articles of one liquid suspended in anotherqi-quid which latter liquid is essentially a non-conductor of electricity consisting in causing the mixture to be treated topass throu h a pervious septum 1111151 ally wetted wit liquid readily miscible with the liquid forming the suspended drops of the mixture, saidfseptum forming part .of'a system of electrodes whose essentia ga'ctive' s'urfaces areimmersedbelowthe' s o s i d; made conne'etedito .a. scarceef ffi ricity cientvolmfie te -produce mes me thetwo liquids while preventing the coa- In testimony whereof I have signed my lescing drops from forming eomplete chains. name to this Specification in the presence of 10 I short eircuiting the electrodes, whereby the two subscribing witnesses.

separated and coalesced drops will drain 5 through the wetted septum to its edge; and FREDERICK GARDNER GOTTR'ELI" collecting said drained liquid in masses es- I Witnesses: sentially free from the other 'constituent of WM. F. Boo'rn, the original mixture. D. B. RICHARDS. 

